TVSquad

Last night I went to a taping of the second installment of Idol Gives Back at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. This year the charities that benefited were Malaria No More, Children's Defense Fund, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Children's Health Fund, and Save the Children.

Keep in mind, there will be spoilers. It's not like I found out the secret to Lost, but I figured I would still give fair warning. The show will air on Wednesday April 9th at 7:30 pm ET / PT. For what happened at the taping and in the press room, read on after the jump. And check back for Jason's review Wednesday night.

Annie's review of last Saturday's SNL pretty much encapsulated how I felt about it; it was above average, especially if you understood some of the jokes directed at guest host Peyton Manning. Since I'm a football fan, that was no problem; the NCAA sketch where the studio guys kept saying certain players "pulled a Peyton Manning" was funny to me because, until he won the Super Bowl last month, Peyton had a bit of a choker's reputation.

Anyway, the funniest bit of the entire episode was the phony United Way PSA, showing Manning "helping" a bunch of kids. Even watching it today on NBC.com, I couldn't help but laugh when Peyton not only checks the play at the line of scrimmage, like he does on every play he runs in the pros, but then he whips the ball at his receivers, whether they're ready or not. When he knocks them over, he calls them "losers;" he's so angry at one kid, he banishes the boy to a Port-O-Let so he can think about the error of his ways.

(S32E16) I know nothing about football. I know nothing about Peyton Manning. He's an athlete, right? Okay. I didn't expect much from him, since the majority of sports-related guests of the past have done poorly. To my surprise, Peyton did relatively well. I think this was partially due to the fact that the writing did not demand too much from him. Although this was a smart move to not make Peyton look like an idiot, it resulted in a mediocre episode.

Peyton Manning just has to do everything Tom Brady does, doesn't he? First, he won a Super Bowl and an SB MVP award, just like Brady (though Brady's won 2 SB MVPs and 3 rings). Now he's decided to celebrate his 31st birthday by hosting Saturday Night Live on March 24. Brady hosted the show two years ago, and did a pretty decent job of it, all things considered.

Manning should do an even better job, since he's already shown a pretty good sense of humor in the myriad commercials he's done over the years. I mean, what football fan didn't love it when he exhorts a deli guy to "Cut that meat!" in a MasterCard commercial? Or when he donned a clever disguise to extol his own virtues in a Sprint ad? Well, most of them didn't. But you can't deny that he'll do a serviceable job on SNL. Although, as far as athlete sketches go, nothing can beat the Joe Montana "I'll be upstairs masturbating" moment from 20 years ago.

(By the way, I'm not a Patriots fan; I'm a Giants fan. I think I'm just jealous because we got the wrong Manning, that's all.)

[via Deadspin]